Wikiquote
free multilingual online collection of quotes
Wikiquote is part of a family of wiki-based projects run by the Wikimedia Foundation using MediaWiki software. The project's objective is to collaboratively produce a vast reference of quotations from prominent people, books, films, proverbs, etc. and writings about them. The website aims to be as accurate as possible regarding the provenance and sourcing of the quotations.
Initially, the project operated only in English from July 2003, expanding to include other languages in July 2004. As of September 2026, there are active Wikiquote sites for 77 languages comprising a total of 386,271 articles and 2,814 recently active editors.
History
The Wikiquote site originated in 2003. The article creation milestones are taken from WikiStats.
Operation
Wikiquote is one of few online quotation collections that provide the opportunity for visitors to contribute and the very few which strive to provide exact sources for each quotation as well as corrections of misattributed quotations. Wikiquote pages are cross-linked to articles about the notable personalities on Wikipedia.
“Wikiquote” enters the record as free multilingual online collection of quotes. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Wikiquote, free and multilingual can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“Wikiquote” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Wikiquote, free and multilingual provides the most credible route into that argument.
Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 22, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q369. None of the 2 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 2003, 2004 and 2026.
The absence of detail may reflect summary conventions rather than a lack of surviving documentation. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Wikiquote”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Wikiquote primary sources, Wikiquote archive and Wikiquote research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Wikiquote”?
- Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
- What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Wikiquote” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.